Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are in the world it’s Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman with Relationship Matters. I hope everyone is having a beautiful morning, afternoon, or evening. I usually start off on my soapbox and last week I told you I had taken both feet off and thought that I could just take that soapbox and just throw it away, but then I ended up keeping it and putting one foot back on. Now why am I doing that? It’s because now they have another strain and people are coming down with this new strain of COVID. People, let me tell you about a virus. A virus is an organism, it’s a living organism, and what does it want to do? It wants to survive. The only way it can survive is eating, okay? Now, what do they do? What does an organism do? It attaches to something. Now it cannot attach to anything or eat anything if there’s nothing out there to eat. If you wear your mask and if you get your vaccinations and you get a booster if you can, more than likely you will not get COVID and hopefully with all of that, that new strain won’t have anything to attach to. So I’m urging you, please wear your mask, get your vaccine. So with that, I’m going to talk and I’m laughing because the person that I’m bringing on, he’s in the green room and I can see him through my own lens here and he’s laughing, but his name is Loren Michaels Harris. Loren Michaels Harris is the founder of the Power of We Symposium and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. We’re going to have a conversation about it and I’m going to, usually I have a vial of a person that I bring on, but you know, he likes to talk about himself, so I’ll just bring him on and he can start.

Loren Michael Harris
I was not laughing, okay, I was. You don’t want to know what it was. What killed me was when you were walking down that hall, you were getting it. I was like, I said, go ahead Edie! Hi Dr. Jan, I’m trying to be like you, so it’s the only way I can get it out. Okay, and let’s just let everybody know if you guys see me going, that’s because I have ribs on the grill. If I have to run out of here, it’s for a good cause. It’ll run out and I come back.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, I was gonna say, then you run out and then you run back. Okay, you look good Dr. G and I like that top and the cup.

Loren Michael Harris
Oh well, thank you. Okay, let’s get down. Yeah, explain why I’m so loopy. I’m loopy because we’re one week out from the Power of We. Let me tell y’all, this is not a regular day. It’s not. This is like, you know, Dr. Jan, you had a baby. You remember when you were a week from your delivery date, right? That’s how it feels and that’s the wonderful, I’d love that because that’s how you know it’s where to start. Today was the day where, let me tell you what I did, how my day was. Usually I’m down here, but today I was upstairs because I had, oh they’re up there, the Power We Bibles, which are all the folders with all the stuff and all the notes and all the invoices and all the emails and just putting it all out there and making sure you do your best. This person has to get the t-shirts, what are the sizes in this sponsor, where’s their video and where’s, and really just, and I’m gonna tell you something, you know the four agreements, you know the last one is always do your best. Today was the kind of day where I sat there and I was amazed at the end of it. I even told Brian when I closed the books up and I consolidated, it was a lot of papers in there, a lot of post-it notes and I thought there was just a ton of work. I thought I would still be out there doing it four hours ago. I finished it and it was like, wow, it really is almost here and it’s nice that it’s like a week out and I’m not like, especially because things come in, you know, we could test it. So anyway, that’s the beauty of what I refer to, the Power We is not an event, it is not. I know now, if I never knew before, I do now. It isn’t, it is an anointed experience.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, tell everybody what the Power of We is for people who really don’t know.

Loren Michael Harris
Well, where are y’all being? I’m just kidding. Because this is just our third one, but I feel wrong even saying it like that, just our third one. This is the third one because they can’t be compared. Why? Because the first, like I just said, the Power of We is an anointed experience, but it is an experience that I asked for something. I’m just keeping it real. I asked, I had had an event that I combined my efforts with someone else and it was my very first event and it was in Las Vegas and it was not integrity based, let’s just say. I mean, our objectives were, I gotta say that even with the person I blended with, but some of the people that came through because the other person added a pay-to-play kind of piece and I learned something from that afterwards, just for my own thing, I’ll never have, I would never be a part of that. I’m just saying it’s my own personal thing. Why? Because when people pay for space, they feel they can bring anything into that space because they own it, they do. And it was such not what I wanted it to be that when we were on the airplane, Brian, I’ll tell you, my husband Brian, I looked at him, I said, well, I hope he didn’t expect to talk to me all the way from Las Vegas to Chicago. And he said, what’s that supposed to mean? And I say it because I’m about to go back to the bargaining table. He was like, what? I said, because I need at a minimum a mouthful of spiritual Listerine because this taste in my mouth is not what I want. And so I stayed under there and I really went there and I was like, I didn’t know and I went through all these things and right when they said put your tables, your chair up and your tray tables up and all that because we were headed into the descent into O’Hare, I heard it and I heard the answer to my plea and it said you will start something known as the Power of We Symposium. That’s all I got. So I took off the headset and I said, they gave it to me and he goes, what? What is it? I said, I don’t know, but it’s called the Power We Symposium. And two days later, I had googled event spaces because I started, it started to come in and I knew it wasn’t supposed to be just like a Marriott courtyard, nothing against you Marriott, but it wasn’t for Power We. It was just, I was showing all the pieces and it said it’s for kids just like you were, it’s for people just like you are and it’s for those who have never been either of those two. So really when I think about it, that’s everyone and it makes sense because it’s called the Power We. It doesn’t, it’s not called the Power of We who have lived here, it’s not called the Power of We who have this much, it’s just the Power We. No matter, it’s like a modern day stone soup story where no matter who you are, no matter what you have, whatever you have, bring it and put it into this community pot and let’s feed the world through it. And so the Power of We just started doing what it is still doing right now, giving it an opportunity for those who want a place to be included, for those who want a place to belong. And that means child, let’s just say from the cradle to the grave, people, us, we, to come, a place for us to come and fulfill that promise where two or more of us that come with the same objective from here and here and from our soul space, that wonderful things that you could never imagine will meet you there. And that’s what’s been happening since 2018 when we did the first one in Chicago and you were there, did the welcome. And then we went to Atlanta the next year and then we were going to go to Australia, but then COVID came and I’m glad COVID came. I’m just saying not glad of all that it brought, but I’m glad about how it has changed the perspective, the vantage point for us to look at what’s really going on in our world and then hopefully within ourselves. And so this was a whole new experience coming out this time, you know, I didn’t plan on the Power of We being April 28th. I was going to wait until COVID was completely eradicated because, you know, I was like, why start it and be halfway through or two days before, who knows? It’s like trying to plan a wedding. I hope it doesn’t rain if you’re going to be outside, right? So I did it anyway, like I always did. And it’s just, it’s for, you know, people think it’s just for kids, but you know, because you’ve been there, it’s not. It’s a two-way feed. It’s for we, it’s for all of us. So it’s a place though, primarily the VIPs, let’s put it that way, are the kids and they’re kids who come from wherever they come from. They can have a 1.0 GPA or a 5.7 GPA. They can live in a nine-bedroom house or they can live in their mama’s car. They can live in a shelter, they live in a hotel, but what matters is that they’re still living.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And when they’re okay, so I’ve been to all three, well two, but three next time, next week.

Loren Michael Harris
You wouldn’t say that, right, right, right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So I’ve been to two and what I saw was that the students, the kids that were there, they were getting so much out of it. So tell us and tell my audience exactly, you know, what happens there.

Loren Michael Harris
Well, excuse me, I guess I have to start before the actual day. Okay, the night before where we all come, all of us who are getting it ready for the kids the next day, the students, and I gotta say kids because I actually have kids coming, one that mother called me pleading today, she wants to bring her 17-year-old son because he was a senior in high school and he just decided he wanted to drop out and he can do it. And so he’s not in school. So, you know, to say student puts a box around it, but he’s a kid, so it’s for kids. So the night before we all come, the volunteers, the moving pieces, which means the presenters, my coaching clients, all of you all that have roles, specific roles within, sometimes, you know, people that we have partnered with, whether it’s another non-profit or a business sponsor, we invite everybody who helped make this day possible to come the night before. We put on our Power We t-shirts and we get it ready, just like you would your home on Christmas Eve. Once you put them kids to bed, you step back and you look at it all and you go to bed and you get up early because you want to see their faces. That’s how this works. So we go from that, we pack the swag bags and all that. It’s just a great time of fellowship.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I want to ask a question now. Usually we packed, stop, we packed the swag bags and you have refreshments. Now, you know I’m lactose intolerant, so I hope that you don’t have just pizza like you did before.

Loren Michael Harris
Just pizza? Oh, I’m praying, that’s what I’m doing now. I got a saying behind it, the prayer wasn’t enough. I’m just kidding. You just have to wait and see. Just peace. Ask my husband about pizza, he’ll knock you out of the way for something. I’m talking about because the thing about it is, I’ll put it this way, it’s really not about the food we eat, it is about the bread we bring to feed others. It is. And that’s because, you know, this is not about, I tell people all the time, we come together, we fellowship. You don’t hear me say network events like this, say we have a networking event. I don’t network, I work the net because I know who I serve told me to be a fisher of men. He ain’t saying nothing about a clinker glasses, but I do some of that too. So do, I’m just saying, but there is a difference, there’s a difference and I know the difference. And the people that come to the We, the We, the Power We, the night before, the day of, the year between, because the Power We, that’s another great thing about it. I’d say this about like the bell ringers, you know, Salvation, they’re out there for that period of time, ring the bell, get the money. But what about right now, this time, this ain’t empty, people ain’t hungry. And we forget because the person isn’t out there ringing the bell. The Power We is designed to keep us connected because as long as there’s a We, there’s a need somewhere. And so we, you know, but we are not having pizza, I’ll tell you that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You’re having cheese and crackers, that’s what you have.

Loren Michael Harris
No, there it is. I’m just kidding. So I’m actually making some of the stuff for this one.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, for this one?

Loren Michael Harris
Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You gotta tell me cause you don’t have some of this cooking.

Loren Michael Harris
Speaking of, you better hope my ribs ain’t drying out out there. I’m just saying for real, we ain’t gonna be pretty. They ain’t gonna be drunk.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Did you turn your ribs down? Did you?

Loren Michael Harris
They’re on a charcoal grill. I’ll do ribs on the, um, and that’s no, no, I got some bricks in there. I think I, I think I’m okay. So, so give us, Loren, give us, uh, what happens, you know, take us on the, now you did it the night before.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah.

Loren Michael Harris
From the morning of, exactly what happens.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s really my favorite part. The very first thing, which is because if you were here in this house, I have right over there coming down to the man cave, a big golden ticket from Willy Wonka. And I have Willy Wonka movie posters upstairs in the hallways, upstairs in the bedroom areas. And I watch that movie at least 10 times a year. Seriously, that in a never-ending story and the Wizard of Oz, but Willy Wonka is number one. And so I took a page from that playbook, um, where one of my favorite parts was the anticipation of all the golden ticket holders and their families as they stood outside the gates of the factory waiting to be let in for that special day. And you know, they didn’t sleep the night before, you know, they’re hoping for what they don’t even know exists. It’s just got so many beautiful stories within it. And so the kids arrive right around eight o’clock and we’re already, we being all of us who were there the night before, but we’re in black tie this time. We’re not in our t-shirts, our jeans and shorts. We’re in black tie and we purposely set it up like a Hollywood thing, paparazzi and step and repeat the red carpet, tuxes and gowns, the whole thing. And the kids are looking through the gate and I know that they’re thinking that they’re watching a bunch of stars when really they’re just watching bigger versions of themselves, older versions of themselves. And as we look out and watch them peer through with wonderment, I hope it reminds some of us that we’re just older versions of them, bigger versions of them. And so we go, a couple of us go out the back and come around to the outside and we meet them out there while the gate is still locked. What are you looking at? And we talk to them about what they think they see, they’re seeing. And we tell them, no, these are just people, but they’re here today. They’re not dressed up for the cameras, they’re dressed up for you. And immediately their world begins to change. I’ve seen it. And we talked to them about their dreams and their anticipations and hopes for the day. A lot of them have never been to a place like the Stan Mansion here in Chicago or the Biltmore Ballrooms in Atlanta. We pick, purposely, we pick opulent places that many of these kids, most of them, if not all of them, have never been inside and never even considered that they would be in a position where someone like them would be honored in a place like that. Because they’re not just there as a guest, they’re there to be honored, uplifted, celebrated for the VIPs they truly are. And so then after we speak to them, all of us who have already walked the carpet, line that same carpet and we grab our cameras and phones and they walk it, all those kids, and then they go in front of the step and repeat and they flick up. And we tell them, you know, it’s okay if you walk in as a stargazer, but our hope and prayer for you is that somehow, someway, through the power of we, we all walk out trailblazers at the end of the day. And so far, so good, that’s what happens. And all the magic that happens between when the curtain rises at 9 a.m. and when it drops back down at 4 p.m., all the magic that happens in there is just so much of it is just stuff you don’t even have words to describe. You know, you’ve been there. It’s just a spirit, you know, it reminds me when I was in the church growing up and we had a song called “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in This Place.” And that’s exactly how I feel about the power we, I do. And I know one day, I know one day it’s going to be something that the entire world knows about. I just know it. I know it. And it’s because we are making it that, not me. It’s not the power we. And that’s another blessing that I got in the lesson, how one letter, just turning an M upside down into making it a W, changed my entire journey. Because before the power of we, I had to understand the power, which is me. But once you learn that, that’s when you then give it away and you become a servant, you know. And so it’s just, and I couldn’t have found that any other way, clearly, any other way. So the power we, you know, it’s a place you, you want it to be everything in it, everything within it, everything in the swag bags, everything, every person that comes knows what we’re there for. And if they don’t, they forget because you’ve seen that too. Or they find out real quick, this is no way. I don’t want to see y’all adults over in the corner flicking up, taking selfies, right? Get a kid in there, take their picture. Can I get a picture? Oh man, look at this, you know, make it all about them. It may be the only day for the next 15 years that they feel celebrated and not just tolerated. And that’s a huge piece. So that’s pretty much it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
What I like about it too is that, like you said in the beginning, that kids come, it doesn’t matter if they had a 1.0 average or being in school, right? The 4.0 average or if they’re barely going to school. And that’s what I like about it. And the red carpet, because to watch the kids’ faces when it’s like, oh, we can walk the red carpet too. Red carpet, they’ve only seen it on TV.

Loren Michael Harris
Right, right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right, of rug, it’s a rug.

Loren Michael Harris
Right, I know. But yeah, but it’s what it means to them. And when they’re walking and the look that’s on their faces and then we’re clapping for them, you know, and that’s really a special part to me.

Loren Michael Harris
It is. Yeah. And see, that’s the piece right there. If they were only watching it from the outside, that’s not the same experience as when their foot lands on top of it and that experience becomes their own. Suddenly they see it for what it is, not what someone told them it represents, so that they’re not chasing something that is not at all what they’ve been promised. See, it’s just, it’s so simplistic, yet it’s so, whoa, you know what I mean?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right, right, right. Now you have different speakers that come and, and to talk with it, I would say to have a conversation with, with the kids. How do you choose your, your speakers? How do you choose the people who you want to be before the, the kids?

Loren Michael Harris
Well, that’s a trick question, but it didn’t work. I’ma tell you, every person there is a speaker at the Power We. Some just don’t go up on that stage, but that’s what I tell people. Don’t come, we don’t click up, you know, to this year, new implementation. The kids are going to be, all the kids up front, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, all the way back to kid, kid next to kid. But after lunch, when they come back, kid, adult, kid, adult, you should be friends, but now kid, adult, kid, adult, right beside each other. Sometimes, do you know how I learned that? When I was an event planner and I’d have so many weddings, when they told me that the families didn’t get, get along, his family and her family didn’t get along, instantly a new small reception space, make it tight where people are forced to be next to each other. Because once they have no choice, they suddenly decide to make one.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
True.

Loren Michael Harris
Okay. And so that’s what it is. I know because I learned from my own event, the first one in Chicago, I saw a girl from the stage and she was all her, her, uh, what’s going on things, not an iPad, pad, yeah, nope, thing, flat one, the laptop, you know, don’t gotta open it, it’s just flat, them things. And she was on it and I was like, no, if she ain’t the rudest thing and look at her, look all smart and cute, but she rude, ain’t paying attention, probably on Facebook. I know I’m gonna get over there, I’m gonna ease out there. And I did. And I saw, I looked out, it was like Chinese, it was all kind of calculus and stuff. She was taking a test. She chose to, she, this girl was a senior and was taking a sophomore physics test because she was already like six credits away from her, um, um, what’s that first one, associates?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, yeah.

Loren Michael Harris
And then when I sat down, I was like, because I said, hey, what are you doing? You sure been wrapped up in all day thinking I was catching up. And she was like, oh, I just finished. She goes, but it was a choice of either staying home for the two hours of this test and missing six hours of this or doing it here. And I knew that she said, I knew the information, so I wasn’t worried, um, because I was just hoping people didn’t think I was rude. And I was like, who would think that? Right. So instantly she made me a better version of myself. And that’s what the power of we does is a two-way feed. You know, you can’t be an adult and come in there and think you can’t walk out having been the student. You see, um, the teacher appears when the student is ready and it doesn’t say anything about age or how much money you got in a bank or if you drove or took a bus. Um, it just is. And I just love watching the spirit of it. You know, just now when I said that, I went there because it’s true. When you see something, you cannot see it. And when you hear something, you can’t unhear. And so many times that’s associated with some type of trauma. Yeah. But we forget that it’s the same thing about a miracle. It’s the same thing about an anointed experience, a blessing. And once you acknowledge it and when people come to the power of we, especially those that have been there, even those that haven’t, all you hear is, oh, I’m so excited. I talked to Jeanette Ramos about an hour ago. She said, I, she don’t come until Wednesday. She already packed. Okay. That’s all I gotta do is airport. I am packed. And I’ve heard it over and over. My phone starts getting blown up starting today. And we call it Cisco this weekend. Oh my goodness. And, um, it’s because it’s the law of attraction. It is that thing that when you, same thing with family reunions, when you love everybody there or you, you know, you start getting excited, you can’t wait. And it’s just, it’s nice to see that you can have that outside of the biological relatives and you can have a family with people that are like-minded, which is why the promise tells us that that is there for you. It is there for the taking. And so, yeah, the power we is for all of us and everyone is different. This time we’ve got a little bit of star power, uh, coming in in different kind of little ways. We’ve got new opportunities with, with educational opportunities, a lot of money being put in front of these kids for school manufacturers and companies. We got three of them there, farmers insurance, couple other agencies that are there to offer these kids paid internships for the summer. And, um, uh, college is coming. That one you said you went to, what’s it called? Uh, National Lewis University. Yeah. They asked that they could come. They’re sending two representatives to possibly, um, connect with us on a mentorship program. And then UL systems coming. Um, it’s just, and those aren’t things when I say it with my big mouth, okay, I decided April 28th, y’all power we suppose didn’t know none of that was gonna be here. None of it. I didn’t even, then I found out I didn’t know if I could get any kids. Remember I called you about that. Um, school is different now since COVID, right? Were the same, the principles weren’t the same. Um, counselors weren’t the same. All my contacts were gone. And, and then I started stalking Dr. Walt Whitman on LinkedIn from the Chicago soldier, not even knowing it was their 40th anniversary.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Now before we go on, uh, I have to take a little break and then I will give you the chance to go and look.

Loren Michael Harris
I’m gonna say how long is it?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Go and I just need two minutes.

Loren Michael Harris
Okay, I’ll give you two minutes. Okay. Okay. 7:32. Okay. Tell me when. Bye.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, we’ll be right back with Michael, I’m getting his name wrong, Loren Michaels Harris. But before he comes back, I need to do just a couple of little commercials, so don’t go away. We’ll be right back. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] and I am so happy that your relationship with your daughter has improved.

Loren Michael Harris
[Music] you say what?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I love that commercial.

Loren Michael Harris
I know you do. I thought I was late because I had to restart the fire. It needs just a little bit more and I had, then I was like back down halfway here. I didn’t put no vinegar on. I had to run back. Right. We gonna eat tonight, y’all.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, but you know what? Even that, Dr. Jan, is, let me just say, I thought it came to me when I was outside just now. I was like, you know, last year at this time, ain’t no way it could have been John the Baptist that called and said, you won’t be on my show tonight. I’ve been like, sorry, John, I got nothing for you. You know, because you know why? Because when you think you, when I, last year even, or the last power week up until this one, I’m just keeping it real. At this point, one week out, I really still thought it was about me. I must have, because I was afraid of things that I didn’t have control over. I was afraid. I was afraid. And you know, now this year, because I just really got it in the last, since the last, during COVID, about how, oh, I read something that said the only time fear is real is when it is attached to imminent physical threat of danger or threat. Okay. If, if something about to harm you, that fear that you feel ain’t real, ain’t even real. And so like today was not down here. I would have told you I was upstairs and all, and I was like shocked that I was done four hours. Really? And you’re not supposed to live when you’re within purpose. You, the goal is to stop living in a world of surprise. Were you surprised? Wow. I sure didn’t see that coming. No, you said when you were then purpose, you automatically are supposed to lean into the arms of purpose, which means now you’re out of a world of surprise and you’re inside a world of expectancy. You expect the promises, you expect the truth to be fulfilled, you expect the promises to be fulfilled. You just expect whatever I know it’s going to be for my benefit and for the service of this kingdom work. That’s, that’s just how it is. And to be able to be up to gorilla now a week out, I went to my journal because I keep journals. When I announced a date for an event, I started saying day 50, day 49. I don’t put dates like August 12th. I just, because they’re on different events, different times of the year, not even the same, but the same me. So I go back and I look, where was I when I started fearing this time, when I started feeling about the money, am I going to be able to raise the money? Remember I was saying on my show a few weeks ago, I am, what was it, nine thousand and some dollars away. Didn’t know I was two days away. That was with me counting the ten, the almost ten thousand dollar check for the food, which I had to give back two days after I was like, I’m eight thousand eight hundred dollars away, but God will do it. And then had to get that check back. I didn’t have to, but I chose to, to stay within integrity. And then the remaining part that I thought was going to be a big deal now had this other almost same amount added to it. And here four days later, not only had the new thing been eradicated, but I was halfway out of the other one. So it’s getting back going. Now, how in the world can someone said, how in the world? Exactly. It won’t happen if it’s of the world. But when you lean back inside a purpose, you go someplace totally different. You have things at your disposal that are not of this world. And I’ma tell you something, it’s real, y’all. It’s real. I’m looking the camera and I thought, you know, I’ve been doing this for a minute and people just assume, even me, when you look around at the things and you think, okay, I got that. But then they bring something in that says, or do you? And that’s the beautiful part of it. Because if it wasn’t because of all of the things that everyone else does that help, like the reason I was able to get to the other side of that was because I told it to two people. I was just saying, guess what happened? And then boom, I didn’t even ask. And one person said, no matter what, Lauren, whatever that food was, we got it. Like within hours. But the test for me was, could I go back to that other six grand I need to find, forget about that whole 10 and leave it at that or 8,980 in 12 cents. Trust me, I know the numbers. Be walking around the house, I’ll be in the bed. Here come the food bill walking through. What you doing in here? You know what we’re doing here, right? You ain’t paid us yet. That’s what we’re doing here. But anyway, and how, what is greater than whatever you ascribe to God, universe, as long as you ascribe to something, you honor something that is greater than yourself. I tell people all the time, they laugh, but I mean it because I refer to it as, you know, what is greater than, and I say that could be a group of roaches. And they go, roaches? I say, yeah, turn on the light at four o’clock in the morning. It’ll be me and 18 roaches. I bet I’m the last one to move. Ain’t no way I’ma move as fast as them roaches when the light turn off. So they greater than me in that situation, okay? So, and the reason I do that is because I want anything that is greater, that can do something that I can, to see what I can do and say, you know what? I may be a roach, but I got you. I got some, I’ma help you. And I don’t, you know, and I know that sounds a little bit awful, but I’m telling you, you got to start the process somewhere where you believe in what you don’t see.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right.

Loren Michael Harris
And you can stop praying for the one thing you cannot pray for, which is faith.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I was getting ready to say faith.

Loren Michael Harris
You can’t pray for faith.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right.

Loren Michael Harris
You know where I learned that? In a jail cell.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Loren Michael Harris
In orientation, which is where you go for those weeks when you get not orientated, what they call it, um, they, I forgot what they could see, man. I thought I’d never forget what they call that. Um, it’s the place you go to before you actually go into the prison system where they test you and do your health and all that stuff to, you know, see if you’re crazy, all that stuff. And I was praying, I didn’t, I skipped a meal. I’ll never forget it. There was an old man, he must have been 80 something, because I remember going, he had a oxygen thing and some, never went out to yard. Then, you know, they come and put him in the wheelchair and take him to his bottom. Like, what in the world did you do? You know, I mean, you should have been sitting your butt down. But one day I was praying, I didn’t know, I forgot that he was two to two cells down and didn’t go. Everybody else went, because you don’t get out in there, you don’t get out once a day. And I was praying, apparently a little bit louder than I thought. And I was like, God, just give me faith, help me, show me faith. I just need it. I know I’m here, but I know it’s not because it’s the end of anything, but I don’t know how the proof of that. So give me the faith to get through it so I can find that later. And I was walking to dinner, I was coming out to go to dinner, like three hours, four hours later. And he said, because he didn’t miss no meals, though he didn’t go out to yard, but he ate. So he was behind me, because young blood, hold on a second. And I waited and he came up, he was actually on crutches, that’s where it was, he was on crutches. And he said, I heard you praying earlier. He said, don’t you know, hasn’t anyone ever told you the only thing you can’t pray for is faith? I was like, what? He said, no, because if you have to pray for it, then it’s not faith. And suddenly the light came on. And I said to myself right then, no matter what, if I take nothing else from this experience, God has already given me what he brought me here for, because I did not know. And it changed me. And I say that and I put it out there because transparency is why there is a power we, complete accountability is why there’s a power we for me. Because, you know, I was living in a world of guilt and shame. Some of it I brought on myself, some of it was cast upon me. But today I counted all joy, just like we are told to do. I counted all joy. I was telling somebody day before yesterday how the first few years, and I know people thought I was lying, but it was the truth. It was at the front end of this career. It wasn’t Mac, I had no magazine covers, I didn’t have a TV show, I wanted an executive producer and team, I want none of that. I was somebody who had, what I did have was an understanding that I was willing to spend the rest of my journey investing everything I could put my hands on into living instead of killing myself, instead of dying to the things other than the things that did not serve me. And once I made that decision and I meant it, everything that came through me and everything I spoke, uttered, did that was of purpose and it was my best, instantly became meaningful in this world. And it started showing up moments later, days later, weeks later, years later, and there’s still some of that way around the corner known as the future, all because of that way back then. And I’m gonna tell you, when you find that space in your journey where it all comes together, where it all begins to make sense, you know, all the things that I used to hide, all the things that I thought, well, I can’t say that, if they knew that, they weren’t like, oh, I sure can’t tell them this, boy. And you know how God broke me in that? Excuse me, for about a year, I had a reoccurring dream. I would be in the grocery store in the checkout line, I’d be my turn, it’d be just me, I’d pick a line, it was like going from lane to lane, that was a part of the dream. And I say this, all of a sudden, the light went on on number seven, I’m going in number seven, it was always number seven. I go in and I’m there, but nobody behind me. Soon as I get my stuff up on the conveyor belt, so much that you can’t leave the line, I just glanced back, they’re sewing some Miss Bessie from church, ’cause I’m still going to church, singing on Sunday, where I’ve been out last night, Saturday night, smoking crack, and then a dealer who sold it to me behind Miss Bessie, and then all the different faces of people that I thought that I was managing, all the people that knew a different face, were all in line behind me. And I was like, oh Lord, did they see me? Oh no. And then exactly, I said, oh Lord, who would I call for? And then my biggest fear was that they would, one of them would acknowledge me, good party last night, huh? We love that solo, that A-B selection this morning, baby. You know, and I was like, if they find out about these other me’s, and the guy said, and he just wouldn’t let me go, kept coming up, kept coming, wake up, and sometimes it’d be so bad, you know them dreams, you in, you know it’s a dream, but you can say, wake up, you know this dream, and you can’t wake up. No, I was like, Lord have mercy. I said, how do I get out of this? He said, stop dividing your spirit. It is impossible. Everything you are and everything you could ever become, I already know. Why do you think I told you it’s okay to come as you are? And I did, I still am. And the power we, sometimes I believe I could just see, you know, I tell people all the time, they think I’m joking, but I mean it. I say, if God wrote a book about how he’s worked with me through my journey since I was a little kid, it would be yellow, black, and white, and it would be one of those books like motivation for dummies, you know, like waiting for dummies, you know, Spanish for dummies, right? Because he just, they just, it just, whatever does this, just breaks it down and makes it so easy. It just takes up its breath of life and blows every crumb of excuse off the table where you want it, there it is, just take it. And it’s, you know, another litmus test of purpose too, I would say the first one is everything you touch creates an imprint of more. You want more, they want more, you get more headaches, you got more joy, more sleepless nights, more ways to serve, just more and more, more. And then the other thing is, as soon as you have it, you cannot do anything but think of ways, look for ways to give it away. You want others to have it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So, Lauren, we only have a few minutes, but I want you to, for people who want to come and support the Power of We, two things I want to ask. I want you briefly to…

Loren Michael Harris
See how she emphasized that? In other words, won’t talk until the eight o’clock hour. I get it, Dr. Jan.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] Briefly tell us exactly what’s going to happen, who you’re going to have there.

Loren Michael Harris
That’s what I told you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Who you’re going to have there and how people can come and support the Power of We.

Loren Michael Harris
Preachers, clearly. And the agenda is upstairs with the Bible. The Power We Bible ain’t trying to blaspheme, forgive me. Here’s what’s going on. First of all, the most important people there are the kids.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes.

Loren Michael Harris
Right at 300 now.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Loren Michael Harris
Some more, yes, right at 300. Lord help us, because you know, I hope I’m not, don’t run out of food. But 300 kids, we have, as far as the lineup, so the Chicago Soul Children’s Choir with Dr. Walt Whitman, you know they gonna tear it up, raise the roof, you know they are. Grammy Award-winning choir, we have them. We have Wally Green, the international table tennis champion. He is the United States ambassador for table tennis, went to Korea all by himself to have a peacekeeping mission with the champion from that country and let him beat him so that he could give him a hug. And it’s just all this, you’re going to see all of that. He has an Oscar-nominated documentary which is playing right now on the Discovery Channel. You’re going to see that. So he’s there doing an exhibition with another top player. We’ve got Gabriel Klingman, who is just a brilliant man. He’s had four top-tier careers and he’s in his early 30s and he suffers from multiple personality disorder, four personalities in all of it. The first one wanted to be a drummer, became a 10-year touring drummer with a top Christian band. Then the next personality wanted to be an inventor. He just sold a company for a ton of money, written a book, all kinds of, here’s a book right here. They got in the corporate world, sold hundreds of thousands of copies, him. He’s there to talk about how things that they tell us, you know, I have a client that’s bipolar, schizophrenic, 80, I’m ADHD. A lot of those mental health things that they tell us are diseases and then I believe they are gifts of the spirit. I believe that they are just, I’m just telling you, they’re gifts, just like with autism. She telling me to be brief. Reminding me to be brief. Dr. Tanya Wiley-Brown, Google her. This woman is just incredible. She is responsible for UL Systems, the nine universities in Louisiana who are coming to present money and opportunity to our young black men to get them to come down there and check out their schools down in Louisiana. And so there’s that. We have Teresa Griffin will be coming through, part of our essay contest, and she’s coming to give some laptops away. So she’ll be there. You know, you know, you know, I don’t know what time the pedal throw is gonna show up for her because you already know Teresa Griffin ain’t playing, right? So she’ll be there. I’m gonna try to get her to sing. We have the Donovan Vernon, classical pianist, also the music director for Brandy’s new Christmas movie through Hallmark. And he was on the show with Brandy on Hulu, Queens. He’ll be there. Oh my goodness, who else? Who else? We’ve got a break. We got panels and the essay contests. We’ve got the Shark Tank thing. Well, we’re kids, just, you know, just like Shark Tank, the show.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And if people want to come to the Power of…

Loren Michael Harris
Too late, we sold out. I’m kidding. See, aren’t you glad we’re not? I just said that. No, go to the best places to go to. You ready? Powerofwesymposium.com because you could go straight to Eventbrite, but then you go, you’re going to miss that red carpet known as the history of Power We. So if you go to Power, when you go to powerofwesymposium.com, you can see everything from the two previous Power We’s. You’ll be able to see things about this year’s Power We and you can buy your tickets there. Now, if you can’t join us in person, we’ve made it even easier for the first time ever. We are live streaming pay-per-view all seven hours of this event, plus footage at lunchtime from the night before and the red carpet, which starts before the live stream. And you’ll get to see all of it, not miss any of it for $27. We’re splitting that $27 with the Soul Children’s Choir because they’re trying to raise a million dollars to help the orphans in Ukraine. So that’s kids trying to help kids. So if we as adults can’t help some kids who are trying to help kids, something right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You’re right about that.

Loren Michael Harris
And there you go. There’ll be panels. Your panel is, you don’t even know. Her panel is, we have two panels. We have on the millionaire mindset panel of, there’s a 12-year-old there, 12-year-old who already has a published book. He’s got a millionaire mindset and some millionaires. And then Dr. Jan will be moderating business, how to become a business powerhouse with people who have done it from places you would have never believed they could have started. That’s it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s right. I knew, I knew the name of my panel. I just wanted to know if I knew it. So that’s it. And then there’s all the stuff that will happen that is not on an agenda. If it is, it’s on an agenda somewhere else. And when we get there, we all get just be expected. We expect you to be a part of it if you want to be. There it is on the screen. Head over to powerwesymposium.com and we want you there with us in spirit. Let’s take great to greater, bright to brighter, smart to smarter, stronger to stronger. And I get a name, man.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, before we go, we just have one. Maxine Walk Hooker said, I think she meant she wasn’t really, he wanted some of them ribs.

Loren Michael Harris
You better call Brian on his phone and ask for his hat, cause mine gonna be so clean, the bone gonna be so shiny, you can do your makeup in it now. What mom?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Thank you so much for coming on the show this evening.

Loren Michael Harris
You’re welcome.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And I hope everyone who is watching go to thepowerofwesymposium.com, get your tickets. I’m here to tell you that it’s, it is an experience that you would never ever forget.

Loren Michael Harris
That’s the truth.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And that’s the truth. Thank you. And so enjoy your ribs and you can tell Brian to at least put me one bowl on the side.

Loren Michael Harris
Some green beans and potatoes too. Let me tell you something, I made them in some chicken stock, you know they’re good. So look, you guys, I want to see all of you come up and say hello at the Stan Mansion when you’re there, because I know you’re coming. Maxine, come on now, quit playing. You know you got something you want to break out your spring wardrobe. Come on, all of you come and have a great time, one that will last you as long as you want it to, as long as you need it to. And I promise you that. Thank you, Dr. Jan, for having me.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead and grow your ribs. Good night, everybody. Thank you all. And I really hope that you get a chance to go to the Power of We. As I said, you will not forget it. So this is Dr. Jan Hooker Fortman signing off for today. So have a beautiful, blessed rest of your morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you are in the world. Bye-bye. [Music] do [Music] do [Music] you